NAACP leader chooses to help others

Some people choose to walk the familiar road and some choose or are chosen to walk a road that is much less, traveled, much harder to navigate, but more beneficial to the greater good, and Aaron Sims, president of the Western Wayne County NAACP, is the latter for sure.

We are proud to name Aaron Sims, of Inkster, MI, our TPE Hero of the Month for October 2012.

“Everyday I ask myself, what will make my community better?” Sims said. “I know and understand there are people out there who are having issues, and I want to make sure I am there and we are there to help people out.”

Sims has lived in Inkster all of his life. He attended and graduated school there before heading to Anthem College where he graduated with an Associate’s Degree in Business. But he didn’t stop there. He now attends the University of Michigan –Dearborn and is working on his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management

“I realize education is important and is necessary.” Sims, a single father of one son, who is eight said. “ I also want to set an example for the youth in our communities who look up to me.”

Sims credits a great deal of his courage to help others and his intent on his upbringing in the Middlebelt Baptist Church.

Sims has a strong conviction of the heart when it comes to serving his fellow man, and tries to do so, whenever he is asked by various community groups. He serves on many boards and participates with other organizations throughout Western Wayne County, such as the Canton Police Department Hate Crime Unit, Advocate Leaders Police and Community Trust (ALPACT), Mayors Millennium Group, Inkster Healthy Living, Cure for Breast Cancer, Josie Odum Morris Literacy Project, Starfish Family Service, Michigan Civil Rights Commission, UAW Local 155 and Local Block Clubs.

Sims travels to Kenya, Africa every October to visit the roots of African-Americans with a mission team with his church and Rosedale Baptist Church of Detroit, MI. While in Kenya, Africa Aaron gives back by doing community service by helping with building homes, schools and speaking at the schools, orphanages and meetings with community leaders.

“I met Aaron a year ago, and I have met hundreds of people in the last two years, while building TPE, but Aaron is different,” said Trish Brown, publisher of the TPEPost.com and founder of TippingPointEducation.com. “He is more committed than anyone I know, more understanding and more capable than even he knows of leading any community or national effort that will bring about overwhelming and positive societal change.

“He has the heart of a public servant and the courage to carry out the people’s work more so than anyone I have met on this journey, “ Brown added. “He also has an incredibly strong love of social justices for all people of all races.

Brown added that she was most impressed with something she saw in Sims that every parent of every child should emulate and that this one quality could literally save public education.

“He’s an amazing father, who cares for his son first and foremost and is involved in his son’s life with his actions,” she added.

Sims is a follower of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and tries to remember this one quote every time he questions his desire to serve his fellow man.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.’

In 2010, Sims organized a rally and a march at the 17th District Court in Redford, MI as 16 young males was arrested and sent to jail for two weeks on a trespassing violation and had their bond set at $25,000 a person. Also organizing rally marches to stop the violence that is occurring in the community “Restoring Hope” is the mission to raise community violence awareness. Aaron Sims is currently serving his 3rd term as President of the Western Wayne County Branch of the NAACP.

Sims has a great deal of passion for youth and that is why he has started his own nonprofit organization called Project We Hope, Dream, and Believe. The mission of the organization is to educate, empower male and female youth in developing the potential and skills to become productive and Confident individuals in a global society.

About Trish Brown

Trish Brown was a news reporter and editor, a former school board president, the founder of Communication Concepts a PR firm in the Detroit area, and founder of all TPE entities www.TPEMultiMedia.com, www.TPEPost.com, and www.TippingPointEducation.com. She has worked with the Osmonds and other celebs while trying to advance education in the k-12 and post-secondary arenas.